New journalism curriculum module teaches digital security for border journalists Module developed by Freedom of the Press Foundation, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and University of Texas at El Paso guides students through threat modeling and preparation San Francisco – A new college journalism curriculum module teaches students how to protect themselves …
This module focuses on how to prepare and what to expect for those traversing the U.S. southern border, centering journalists serving border communities.Unlike most modules in the J-school digital security curriculum, it begins with a somewhat distinct perspective on risk assessment, adding further emphasis on individual attributes (e.g., nationality) …
US border searches of electronic devices put journalists’ work at risk. But there’s a lot you can do to be prepared
Look, neither one of us wants this. But we’re going to have to keep talking about how defense officials are using Signal in unusual ways
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The Spamhaus Project has released a blog criticizing Cloudflare — a content delivery network and cloud cybersecurity provider — for providing security services to abusive domains. These websites could contain spam, phishing links, malware, and even botnets.
The cybersecurity firm Kaspersky disclosed that at least five Google Play applications contained Mandrake, a sophisticated cyberespionage tool.
Last Friday, computer systems worldwide were taken down by a defective update from enterprise cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike. In the wake of the outage, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency is warning of phishing emails, with attackers posing as CrowdStrike customer support.
Around 110 million AT&T subscribers were affected by a data breach from May 1 to Oct. 31, 2022, TechCrunch reported.
The parent company for Authy, an application for two-factor authentication, has issued a critical security update to its Android and iOS users. According to BleepingComputer, hackers utilized leaked phone numbers from past data breaches to identify up to 33 million Authy users.
Apple released a firmware update patching a critical Bluetooth vulnerability in AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, Powerbeats Pro, and Beats Fit Pro. According to its support page, an adversary in Bluetooth range could spoof as an intended source device for these wireless headphones. When the targeted headphones send a connection request to the spoofed device, it could eavesdrop on confidential conversations.
October is cybersecurity awareness month and Martin Shelton, principal researcher at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), explores Meta’s new AI chatbot features. What he finds is security news that’s creepier than any ghost and a tool that bleeds more than fake vampire fangs.With Meta releasing AI chatbot abilities …
What journalists can do to better manage digital security for sources when reporting on abortion.
At Freedom of the Press Foundation, we assist journalists on their digital security habits to help them work more safely and sustainably. So we take it a little personally when private spyware companies are actively making journalists less safe by selling their services to repressive governments. We are now learning …
We're thrilled that you are reading this, because it means you're taking a step toward equipping your students to protect themselves and the people around them, while they work on the web. We put together this README to let you know what's in the curriculum, how it all fits together, …
This module begins with a short discussion about information hidden in files, and the potential risks tied to file metadata. It follows with a short exercise to have students find the file metadata embedded in a photo, followed by discussion of risk minimization.PrerequisitesThreat modeling(Good to know) Malware …
Threat modeling is foundational to thinking through security broadly, and we therefore introduce it before several other more technical topics. We first encourage the use of physical metaphors (e.g., choosing how and where to lock a bicycle) before introducing digital applications to help beginners understand how they may already create …
Because this is a challenging topic, we strongly recommend the prerequisite modules before getting started. Likewise, it may be most appropriate for students who plan on pursuing journalism professionally.This module opens with a presentation outlining publicly documented examples of compromised sources, and then moves onto an activity requiring students …
This section is intended to be presentation-heavy. It opens with a short video explaining the foreign intelligence surveillance court, followed by another introducing NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The legal material can be somewhat dry, so it's especially important to focus on the surveillance capabilities outlined, followed secondarily by the authorities …
This section on surveillance tools used by law enforcement is discussion focused, and intends to get students to think critically about the relationship between surveillance, privacy, and transparency. It begins with lecture canvassing a variety of law enforcement surveillance technology, based on research from from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Afterward, …
This module should be short, introducing the problem with a video, and open a discussion with students about full disk encryption and strong password protection.PrerequisitesThreat modelingEstimated time20 minutesObjectivesUpon successful completion of this lesson, students will be able to analyze the risks associated with device …
This module will not provide an exhaustive look at this topic, but will instead provide the starting point for students to know how to investigate their digital security questions as needed.This lecture and activities will briefly introduce several foundational topics on digital security, including the basics of threat modeling, …
This module opens by walking through examples of targeted harassment, followed by a self-doxxing activity, an activity to opt-out of a data broker service, and discussion time. Because some students may have personal experience with harassment and doxxing on the web, if this class environment feels safe enough to do …
Because the behavior of telecommunications networks and the internet is so foundational to realistic threat modeling, this section should be used before any subsequent discussion of chat tools designed to protect network-level communication like Signal, or tools that encrypt and tunnel traffic, such as VPNs, or Tor. This section opens …
This module begins with a walkthrough of a few examples of legal requests that have affected news organizations' communications, with emphasis on the underlying authorities and how they might apply more broadly. In the latter half of the lecture, instructors may ask students to investigate a transparency report for a …
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